Responding to the cases of sexual abuse of minors in the care of the Council of Majorca, President Armengol has called for more resources to be provided by the Spanish government. Yesterday, she made a request to increase the number of National Police officers who are specialists in this area and to strengthen the prosecution service.
The emphasis, Armengol said, should be on detaining the abusers and on reinforcing the system for protecting minors in the care of island councils and indeed the Balearic government.
The president explained that the president of the Majorca Institute of Social Affairs, Javier de Juan, will be appearing before the Council’s plenary session this Friday. Referring to opposition calls for his resignation and that of others, Armengol insisted that this was a time for all political parties and institutions to be working together in order to solve “this serious problem”.
Armengol added that there need to be improvements to procedures and to systems of prevention and coordination involving the government, the island councils, the police, the prosecution service and associations which work with minors. “We cannot look the other way; we must find solutions together.”
What was a Majorcan matter has now become a national issue. The Partido Popular yesterday called for the minister for social rights, Pablo Iglesias, to appear before Congress and give his views about the cases of child sexual exploitation. The PP’s Marga Prohens observed that it was “sad” that there had been silence from the government and demanded “political responsibility”.
In her view, a trap of “failed procedures” should not be fallen into. The failure she insisted, has been with those with political responsibilities, who have not applied the procedures. The PP is also considering calling for an appearance by the minister for equality, Irene Montero. Prohens noted that Montero has not been as combative as she was with the gang rape case in Pamplona. Instead, she has said that caution should be exercised in respect of the Majorcan cases of sexual exploitation.